Was I going to have thoughts also?
Was I going to be an insomniac like this?
Was I going to be quiet like this?
To stop caring for the tossed salad I loved so much?
Was I going to turn into this?
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
Turkish poet
Bird and Cloud by Orhan Veli Kanık
Birdman!
We have a bird
A Tree
Give me a nickel’s
Worth of clouds.
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
? by Orhan Veli Kanık
Why do I think of masts
When I mention a port?
And of sailboats
When I mention the open seas?
Of cats when I mention March,
Of workers when I mention justice?
And why does the old miller
Believe in God without thinking?
And on windy days
Why does the rain come down at a slant?
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
Traveling by Orhan Veli Kanık
I have no intention of traveling;
But if I did
I would come to Istanbul.
What would you do
If you saw me on the streetcar
going to Bebek?
I told you though,
I have no intention of traveling.
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
On Mustard by Orhan Veli Kanık
I was so stupid.
For years
I didn’t understand
The place
Of mustard
In society.
“One can’t
Live
Without mustard.”
Abidin was saying
The same thing
The other day
To those
Who understood
Deeper things.
I know it isn’t necessary,
But may God deprive no one
Of mustard.
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
in anticipation of my trip tomorrow to Istanbul and seeing friends: Makes Me Dizzy by Orhan Veli Kanık
Getting a letter makes me dizzy;
Drinking raki makes me dizzy;
Going on a trip makes me dizzy;
What’s the meaning of all this, I don’t know;
Someone singing “My Kazım”
In Üsküdar
Makes me dizzy.
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
At One Glance by Mihri Hatun
At one glance
I loved you
With a thousand hearts
They can hold against me
No sin except my love for you
Come to me
Don’t go away
Let the zealots think
Loving is sinful
Never mind
Let me burn in the hellfire
Of that sin
translated by Talat S. Halman
Heartache by Cezmi Ersöz
Here we are alone again me and this pain within
again just you and I
put your hand in mine
shh! whatever you do don’t make me whine.
Oh my heartache deep within
put your hand in mine
let’s you and I find a way
not breathless in panic or shouting today
out of this deep dark forest echoing with howls. . .
My pain within, my heartache deep inside, oh you my love
here we are alone again
put your hand in mine
shh! whatever you do don’t make me whine. . .
translated by Jean Carpenter Efe
Sand by Gülten Akın
I had a beloved once
who sent me some sand from his hometown
I, however, always wondered about the wind of that kind
whether it was tamed crazy continuous
whether it appeared suddenly in the sky
hurling what it gathered from the ground
there were cities we later shared
the wind masterful I inexperienced
it swept by violently, came and went
filling my eyes with sand
translated by Suat Karantay
After the Rain by Cevat Çapan
This time
I brought with me
the chill of the streets
in which we once walked.
Your breath and gaze will be filled with
shadows of the eaves falling upon us
and the smell of sweet basil outside the windows
if you hold my hand.
At this crossroads
where everything is lost
and found again
when we are face to face with all that crowd
you will realize
the further
time takes you away from me
the closer
it draws me to you.
translated by Zeynep Bağcı & Suat Karantay
Leonard Durso 